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Persuasiveness of the Text: an Analysis of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas"

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Persuasiveness of the Text: an Analysis of Virginia Woolf's UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-2009 Persuasiveness of the text: An analysis of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas" Carl William-John Linder University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Repository Citation Linder, Carl William-John, "Persuasiveness of the text: An analysis of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas"" (2009). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 1112. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/2493684 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PERSUASIVENESS OF THE TEXT: AN ANALYSIS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF'S THREE GUINEAS by Carl William-John Lindner Bachelor of Arts 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in English Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University, of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2009 UMI Number: 1472427 Copyright 2009 by Lindner, Carl William-John INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform 1472427 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Carl Lindner 2009 All Rights Reserved Thesis Approval UNIV The Graduate College •II.MLHJ:UL.'l.lj;iJW.tlHA')jj.U University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 17 20_Q3_ The Thesis prepared by Carl William-John Lindner Entitled Persuasiveness of the Text: An Analysis of Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Examination Committee<Cnair<Cnair Dean of the Graduate College Examination Committee Membe. (aminution Committee Member Graduate College Vacuity Representative 1017-53 11 ABSTRACT Persuasiveness of the Text: An Analysis of Virginia Woolf s Three Guineas by Carl Lindner, Graduate Student Dr. Beth Rosenberg, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas This analysis is a consideration of the Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf and deals with her use of endnotes and citations throughout the essay-novel, and their persuasive role in regards to the text. This paper will investigate this paratextual source material and its purposeful inclusion into the work. As mnemonic components and logical evidence, the textual citations are subservient to the persuasive quality of the text and the arrangement of her argument. After separating historical elements from the rhetorical aspects of the essay-novel, the paper explores Virginia Woolf s use of Classical rhetorical strategies in constructing her argument in Three Guineas. Next, the persuasive quality of Three Guineas is considered through Woolf s effective deployment of various aspects of patriarchal language against itself within the work. Ultimately this paper shows, with her systematic usurpation of language, Woolf actually creates one of the most persuasive and rhetorical works of the last century. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 111 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE PERSUASIVENESS OF THE TEXT 1 Preface 1 Terminology 2 Prior Criticism 9 The Persuasiveness of the Text 16 CHAPTER 2 WHAT IS IT AND WHAT IT IS NOT: THE HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THREE GUINEAS 19 CHAPTER 3 AN APOLOGIA AND SOMETHING MORE: A RHETORICAL CRITQUE OF THREE GUINEAS 38 CHAPTER 4 CITATION AND RESPONSE: FEMINIST SUBVERSION OF TEXTUAL AUTHORITY IN THREE GUINEAS 62 CHAPTER 5 PERSUASION AND THE TEXT: THE QUALITY OF RHETORIC IN THREE GUINEAS 85 WORKS CITED 94 VITA 99 IV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE PERSUASIVENESS OF THE TEXT Preface Before the commencement of this study, I wish to explain that this project is as thoroughly grounded in the feminist movement as much as possible using both feminist critical theory and performing a feminist rhetorical analysis of Three Guineas. The subjects and approaches I will be using directly reflect this feminist foundation of criticism and inquiry. As a male, even one of the twenty-first century, my views and opinions in regards to any feminist work will likely come under intense scrutiny for precisely that reason. This is doubly so when considering such a criticized work as Virginia Woolf s Three Guineas, which was often lambasted by the men of her day, even her male confidants, and by current reviewers of the work. Virginia Woolf made a series of arguments about the connection between the public and private spheres and their link to the rise and perpetuation of fascism in Europe throughout the 1930s. Thus, my critical task involves a feminist rhetorical analysis of the argument and the material in the "scholarly" footnotes to explore the design of her argument and the subversion of the patriarchal hierarchy inherent in any rhetorical argument. The aim of this dual inquiry is to produce a cohesive interpretation of all aspects of the work, while also adding layers of nuance, depth, and insight to our present 1 understanding of Three Guineas, with the hope that Woolf s efforts will be greater appreciated for their ingenuity and intricacy. Terminology: "Rhetoric," Rhetorical Criticism," and Rhetorical Criticism from a Feminine Perspective I would like to begin by defining the word "rhetoric" because understanding of this term, and others I am going to use, is often shaded by multiple mixed meanings that are far removed from my usage of the term here. Even Woolf felt "a word without a meaning is a dead word, a corrupt word" (TG 121). Of course, thought on the real definition of "rhetoric" has interested scholars from Greco-Roman antiquity to the current century. As Partricia Bizzell states in her introduction to The Rhetorical Tradition: "[R]hetoric in its various incarnations has been a powerful force in public affairs and in education for most of its existence since the fifth century B.C.E., when it developed in Greek probate courts and flourished under Greek Democracy" (1). Truthfully, there are almost an infinite number of meanings for rhetoric including "the practice of oratory; the study of the strategies of effective oratory; the use of language, written or spoken, to inform or persuade" (Bizzell 1). In the vernacular, rhetoric is commonly considered as a speech act of pomposity and grandiloquence that is often used in reference to political leaders and politicians discussed in mainstream media. In many ways, this understanding of rhetoric is similar to Virginia Woolf s assertion that you can "fire off your rhetoric, but we have to face realities" (TG 45). While it is true that the word "rhetoric" and "speech" are often used as a synonym for one another, the added connection to pretentiousness is based on 2 seemingly on a superficial understanding of the historical usage of the term "rhetoric." Our English noun "rhetoric" comes from the French rhetorique but stems ultimately from the Greek feminine adjective rhetorike which is the elliptical of rhetorike tekhne or "the art of the rhetor." Alluding to Patricia Bizzell and her introduction once more, in Greco- Roman thought, rhetoric is "first, and foremost, the art of persuasive speaking" and not speaking with flowery and superfluous diction (2). As such, rhetoric can perhaps be defined as the human effort of an orator to induce the cooperation of a listening audience. Nevertheless, while Bizzell stresses the importance of persuasion in public speaking in the growth of rhetorical study, she is also quick to point out that the awareness of rhetoric quickly extended "its scope by looking into the various uses of discourse that might be considered persuasive" in whatever form they might exist (2). This is similar to what Robert Scott and Bernard Brock discuss in their introduction to Methods of Rhetorical Criticism: "[w]hen living voice was the only practical public means to induce cooperation, speech nearly exhausted the possibilities of rhetoric" (7). Humorously enough, even at the time of the great Greek philosophers of Plato and Aristotle, most of their accumulated work was not passed on in spoken form but in written text. Furthermore, Scott and Brock point out that "the printing press ended that circumstance" of speech oriented rhetoric and now "the forms of presentation stagger the capacity of speech to contain them" (7). Therefore, rhetoric cannot be confined to oration, but must refer to any discourse that is persuasive in any regard. When I use the term "rhetoric" in any of its forms in this study, I do so in agreement with the notion that any discourse, written or spoken, which is inherently persuasive, can be considered rhetoric. The speaker, or author, only needs to be the 3 originator of the discourse, regardless of the medium of transmission, to his or her given audience.
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